GSD: Rise of the Black Knight
by Black's Phoenix
Summary: What would happen if a new pilot was added to the Minerva?  A young man is about to give us the answer.  Follow William Langston as he helps to shape the people of the Minerva as well the the World.  Pairings inside.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gundam Seed or the characters as they belong to Bandai. The only character that I own is William Langston. The mobile suits and ships are not my property either.

**Chapter 1**** – Armory One**

A young man dressed in the red elite uniform of ZAFT was making his way towards the bridge of the new warship Minerva. While his appearance may be considered unremarkable for a coordinator, his deeds were well known throughout ZAFT especially his exploits at Jachin Due as they had given him the title of the Black Knight of Jachin.

Standing at 173 centimeters tall the Black Knight of Jachin looked different then most pilots of ZAFT due to the fact that his hair was very short while sporting a goatee, which gave the impression of being older then his 17 years of age. Most males in ZAFT had longer hair with no facial hair, which while not a requirement was the most common.

Upon entering the bridge the young man saluted the captain and her executive officer before making his way over to Meyrin Hawke, who happened to be reviewing the communications systems.

"How is our red haired guardian angel doing today," he asked in a light tone.

Slightly startled the young woman turned from the monitor in front of her to the man at her side. A moment later after taking in the words a slight blush bloomed on her cheeks before responding in a slightly squeaking voice, "I am doing fine Commander Langston. Is there something that you need?"

Shaking his head slightly at her words he responded by saying, "Other then for you to call me Bill when there are so few people around?" This was said with a grin on his face all the while looking completely at ease with the fact that the captain of the ship was only a few feet away.

"Yes Comman… I mean yes Bill, is there anything that you need my help with?" replied Meyrin.

"Well…," here he paused as if thinking about it before saying "how about letting me know when your sister, Rey and Shinn get back to the ship. I want to go over a few things with them so that we are ready for our launch tomorrow so I would appreciate it if you could tell them to meet me in the lounge."

"No problem Commander, I mean Bill, I'll let you know when they are all back and if you like I will send them to meet you in the lounge," she replied.

"Good," he stated "now when your shift is done may I have the pleasure of your company for a meal? I mean I can't pass up the opportunity to spend more time with such beautiful girl."

"Ok," squeaked Meyrin as she showed some of trade mark shyness, well that was according to her sister, Luna, when she was around a guy.

"Excellent… then I shall she you later." As the Commander prepared to leave he turned his head to the captain to see amusement in her eyes before she gave him a small smile.

Talia turned her attention back Arthur and the reports that they were going over concerning ship supplies, their expected mobile suit contingent and other small items of detail.

About ten minutes later just after Arthur had begun going over things with Meyrin an alarm had sounded inside of the Armory One indicating that some type of emergency was taking place. A minute later it became clear as she was sent the information saying that the ZGMF-X24S Chaos, the ZGMF-X88S Gaia, and the ZGMF-X31S Abyss had been stolen from there hanger and that the Minerva was to assist in the recapture of said machines.

Turning to Arthur she quickly said, "Get Commander Langston and Shinn ready immediately. We need to recapture the stolen machines so do not equip the Commanders machine with a wizard pack and use the sword silhouette for the Impulse."

Having heard the orders Meyrin began to comply by calling over the intercom, "Commander Langston and Shinn report to your machines at once." At the same time she hit the alarm so as to get the pilots moving quickly.

Shinn was had already been at his locker already so as he was rushing out his commander was entering the pilot area to change into his blue and black flight suit.

"Stay calm if you get there before me Shinn, I don't know the details but it shouldn't be long before I am able to get there to give you a hand, alright?"

"Yes, commander," responded the youngest of the red elite pilots, before taking off towards the hanger.

Upon entering the hanger Bill heard Meyrin's voice over the speaker going over the prelaunch details concerning the Impulse. Just after entering the cockpit to his Black Zaku Phantom and closing the entry hatch he called the bridge to find out the situation as well as to hear what Shinn would eventually be saying.

'I can just about guarantee he will say something stupid' thought Bill just before Meyrin's face appeared on one of the monitors in the front of his cockpit.

"Situation," he asked forgoing any attempt to flirt with her as it was not the time or situation.

"The Gaia, Abyss, and Chaos are being in the process of being stolen, so Shinn and you are supposed to try and recapture the machines. We cannot afford to cause any more damage to the armory so you will not be equipped with a wizard pack."

Giving a nod to indicate that he understood Bill closed his eyes before taking a breath to get himself into the proper state of mind.

Over the speakers Meyrin's voice could be heard saying, "Closing air tight shutters." Less then a minute later she stated, "ZAKU you are clear to launch"

"Bill Langston, ZAKU Phantom launching."

Almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth the ZAKU was being shot forward by the linear catapult being accelerated so that it could use its thrusters to fly to where the stolen machines currently were causing havoc.

He was just a minute away from the three machines as he heard Shinn's voice saying, "Why is this happening? Are you trying to start another one? Another war?"

Bill waited a moment before saying, "Of course they are Shinn. Otherwise they wouldn't have bothered trying to steal these machines. Now cut the chatter and lets' do our job."

Once the words were out of his mouth he saw Shinn connect his two anti-ship swords together before spinning them around so as to get a comfortable position so that he could attack the Gaia, which was in front of him while a green ZAKU was behind and the Chaos a little further behind the ZAKU.

As Shinn was swinging his double anti-ship swords at the Gaia, Bill pulled out his beam rifle and began firing for the head of the Chaos hoping to knock out the optical sensors in one shot so that ZAFT could recapture it.

Unfortunately the Chaos was able to move in time so the green beam smashed into the wall of a hanger.

With the Chaos moving to hide behind the crumbling buildings Bill glanced over to see how Shinn was faring with the Gaia. The glance showed one of the anti-ship swords smashing into the shield of the Gaia sending the machine backwards.

To Bill it looked like Shinn was not worrying about trying to capture the machine but just to defeat it and apparently Captain Gladys and deputy captain Trine seemed to agree with his assessment as he heard Arthur's voice saying, "Shinn your orders are to capture the machines, you do understand that, right?"

"I don't know if I can do that," replied Shinn letting a little of his anger appear in his voice. "I mean I don't know if I can take them. How the hell did this happen!"

"Now is not the time to be asking questions," said Captain Gladys. "Just work on capturing those machines."

"We never trained for anything like this," whined Shinn.

"No shit Sherlock," stated Bill firing his rifle at the Chaos, which had attempted to come from the side and slice his ZAKU in half. "Just concentrate on the job at hand"

Just as he was finishing saying this the Abyss had appeared and attempted to ambush Shinn. However the green ZAKU had seen this and engaged its thrusters before ramming its shield into the chest of it before it could charge up and fire its Callidus multi-phase energy cannon, before flinging its beam axe at the Gaia, which smashed into its shield pushing the Gaia back and forcing it to the defensive while allowing Shinn to charge and slam his duel Excalibur swords into the shield flinging the black gundam backwards.

The Abyss however managed to recover enough to fire its Callidus, which blew off the green ZAKU's shield leaving it with only one arm. In all reality it made the machine basically useless in the situation.

Realizing that they most likely would not be getting any help, at least for a while Bill called over to the radio to Shinn, "Take the Gaia and I'll deal with the other two as best as I can" all the while spitting emerald darts out of his rifle trying to either hit the head of the stolen machines or to blow off their other limbs.

This however was incredibly difficult because they were still on the ground where the two gundams would be able to use the surroundings to their advantage. Espcially when Bill, Shinn, and the others at the base were trying to disable their machines while the pilots of the stolen machines had the ability free to kill.

While Bill was being shifted into a more defensive approach, Shinn was having problems of his own dealing with the Gaia. It had transformed into something similar to a BaCue and by using its 'wings' it pushed Shinn to the ground before the Chaos appeared and snapped of a burst of his machine guns as well as an emerald dart, which were luckily off target.

Trying the same tactic again the Gaia flew at the Impulse but Shinn was able to counter this by engaging his thrusters and separating his anti-ship swords. This forced the Gaia to alter its course so that when it spun around to fire at Shinn, the shield of the Impulse was in position to block the beams. Shinn then threw one of his anti-ship swords at the Gaia, which bounced harmlessly away off the black machines shield.

Meanwhile Bill was having some difficulties as the Chaos had taken to firing from behind the walls of some of the destroyed hangers, while the Abyss was free to attack on a larger scale preventing other ZAFT machines from being able to help.

"Damn it," muttered Bill as the Abyss jumped into the air unfolded his shield/wings to unleash both triple beam cannons. This destroyed a wave of mobile suits that were trying to come to help in the recapture

While swinging his shields into position to protect his machine, Bill called over the radio to the Minerva saying, "Where are Rey and Luna and how soon will they be able to help?"

Over the radio he heard Arthur say, "They are just about finished clearing the debris that had fallen on their machines and will be over to help you soon. Although how much help they will be able to be depends on whether or not the debris was just lying on their machines or if they caused any damage."

"Thanks," replied Bill as the Chaos and Gaia joined the Abyss in the air.

While Bill engaged the thrusters on his machine, a white ZAKU Phantom and a red ZAKU appeared both of the firing the beam rifles trying to hit any of the three stolen machines. Between Rey and Luna they were able to push the three stolen machines into more isolated positions where they would be harder pressed to help their comrades.

Just as he was preparing to talk to Shinn and explosion rocked the colony, which the stolen machines seemed to be waiting for to happen as their movements became more defensive.

"Shinn just try to keep them in the area," stated Bill in as level a tone as possible.

"Alright… fine," replied Shinn obviously not able to do much other then agree being down to one anti-ship sword.

Suddenly the Gaia seemed to freeze as it just hovered in the air, while the Abyss and Chaos moved into position to protect the machine.

This had the problem of undoing what Rey and Luna had helped to achieve with their arrival. The only hope for the quartet would be to try and scatter the machines again and quickly.

Unfortunately this would not be possible because as soon as the emerald darts were fired from the beam rifle the Gaia had blasted its full thrusters towards the colony exterior. In turn both the Chaos and Abyss followed suit with Shinn and Bill close behind followed by Rey and Luna.

"Damn it," cried Luna as her thrusters began to malfunction, as evidenced by the smoke pouring out its back. "I'm heading back to the Minerva commander. I won't be any help without my thrusters."

"Understood," replied Bill to the magenta haired girl. "Go back because we don't know the extent of the damage to your machine and we do not want it blowing up with you inside. Rey, Shinn, and I will stop them as soon possible. Just concentrate on getting there safely."

Just after it started firing its beam rifles Shinn threw one of the Impulse's beam boomerangs only for it to be destroyed by the Abyss, which had opened up with all of its energy weapons.

Bill quickly replaced the battery for his beam rifle a couple of emerald darts lanced out towards the stolen machine, which caused Bill to turn his ZAKU's optics toward the source.

Rey began heading for the Abyss, while Bill flew towards the Chaos. Unfortunately the Chaos released a missile barrage followed by releasing both weapons pods, which forced the black ZAKU phantom to a slightly defensive position.

Meanwhile Shinn began to try and attack the Gaia again by throwing his remaining beam boomerang at it but the Chaos was able to destroy this attempt as well as strike the area that the Gaia had been firing her beam rifles toward.

Then the Chaos proceeded to charge the Impulse and when Shinn tried to counter with his anti-ship sword it was broken in half by the shield of the Chaos.

Immediately after this Shinn called over the intercom, "Minerva send out the force silhouette."

Here Meyrin turned her chair to look at Captain Gladys, who in turn swiveled her chair to look at Chairman Durandal and said, "I guess there is no point in hiding this right now."

Reluctantly the Chairman seemed to agree, which caused Captain Gladys to give Meyrin the go ahead to launch the force silhouette.

"Deploying force silhouette," announced Meyrin through the Minerva.

While the silhouette was flying towards Shinn, Rey and Bill were busy trying to capture the stolen machines as well as buy Shinn some time to change the Impulse's equipment. Unfortunately this meant that the Gaia was able to keep firing on the colony wall with her beam weapons.

When the force silhouette arrived to merge with the Impulse Rey and Bill pressed in a more aggressive manner to try and compensate for Shinn being busy. This also meant that the Gaia was able to keep up its assault on the colony walls.

With Shinn now having full thrusters as well as beam sabers he charged right for the Gaia as he seemed to have a fixation on trying to take down the black mobile suit.

Because of Shinn's recklessness in trying to attack the Gaia Bill and Rey were unable to properly help him by keeping away the Chaos and the Abyss. This meant that when the Chaos fired its multi-phase energy cannon it was able to streak in between the Impulse and the Gaia buying the black mobile suit some room as well as further weakening the colony wall.

"Damn it… another hit or two of that and they will be able to escape," cried Bill through the comm. System to Rey and Shinn. We need to hurry otherwise they will be at a significant advantage as they know better then us what to expect outside."

Twisting his right shield to block a shot from the Abyss also allowed Bill to draw a beam axe into his left hand.

Meanwhile Rey was pushing his machine to dodge the fire from the weapons pods before returning fire and sending an emerald dart just to the side of the green mobile suits head.

Just after drawing the beam axe Bill unleashed several shots at the Abyss that were purposely wide so as that hopefully the third shot would strike the head of the stolen machine.

This did not work however as the Abyss turned its body to the side so that the last shot harmlessly impacted on the shield/weapons pod. Then the Abyss charged at the Black and silver lined ZAKU phantom and tried to cut it in half with its beam lance only to have to stop and block the beam axe that would have severed the Abyss' right arm.

As Shinn kept firing as quickly as his rifle would allow his machines energy was slowing falling to critical. By allowing his own feeling to get to involved in his fighting Shinn was not being as effective as he could have been against the Gaia.

Just after Rey spun his machine in a barrel roll to dodge another burst from the Chaos' multi-phase energy cannon the colony wall opened with a large whole, thus allowing the stolen machines to escape and slowly pulling the Impulse along with them into space.

"Shinn, we need to return to the Minerva," said Rey before Bill could act.

"But they are getting away," whined Shinn clearly upset that the machines were escaping.

Before either Bill or Rey could respond Shinn had turned the Impulse towards the hole and engaged his thrusters so as to go after the machines.

"Shit…," muttered Bill before continuing in a louder voice with "come on Rey we need to head out there before he gets himself killed."

"Yes sir," replied Rey in his usual tone.

Both ZAKU phantoms hit their thrusters to full as they tried to gain back the ground on Shinn before he got him and his machine destroyed.

Luckily for them Shinn hadn't made it to far out of the colony, but it was still far enough that it would take a minute or two before he could get help.

"Where are they," muttered Shinn as he scanned the area for any sign of the stolen machines.

"Shinn this is dangerous we should return to the Minerva," stated Rey.

Green bolts of energy began to shoot around the Impulse.

This seemed to be coming from a purple mobile armor as it came into view and began attacking Shinn. The gunbarrels of the mobile armor had separated from the frame of the mobile armor and it was trying to surround Shinn with a web of energy.

Rey managed to get to Shinn first and blocked a potentially fatal shot with his left shoulder shield, before saying, "Shinn you have to concentrate otherwise this is no ordinary opponent."

Bill watched Rey work for a short bit as he managed to maneuver his machine to avoid the beam blasts. By waiting Bill was able to detect the pattern of the mobile armors attacks before moving his mobile suit into position to help Rey. Having seen the DRAGOON units of the Providence Gundam from the second battle of Jachin Due allowed Bill to understand the idea of taking out the deployed weapons first as they were free to move around without the restrictions that a human would have from their body.

Shinn however let his ego get the best of him as he tried to go straight for the main body of the mobile armor with his beam saber only for the machine to boost out of the way. Then all four gunbarrels unleashed there cannons on the Impulse again and while Shinn evaded most of the shots the right foot of the Impulse was touched.

Here Bill threw his beam axe to where he expected one of the gunbarrels to be as he hit full thrusters to grab the Impulse and pull it away from the area.

A small explosion occurred as Bill's beam axe cut through one of the mobile armor's gunbarrels, while Rey shot and destroyed another one after it blazed past him with a beam weapon coming out the front.

Looking at the text he received Bill engaged the comm. and called Shinn, "Go back to the Minerva that's an order. You are running low on power and you are more of a liability here then a help."

Some grumbling was heard before Shinn finally replied saying, "Yes commander."

"Meyrin prepare for the Impulse to land in the hanger," said Bill changing his comm. to the Minerva.

"Understood Commander," was the reply he received.

Firing off another couple of shots before dodging a gunbarrel that tried to slice him in half Bill returned his full attention to his opponent.

It took less then a minute before a shot from both Bill and Rey hit the same gunbarrel causing it to explode, and the remaining gunbarrel to reattach to the purple mobile armor.

Immediately after it was reattached the mobile armor blasted away from both of them towards the carrier that had by now acquired all three stolen prototypes.

Just as he was preparing to call to Rey, Meyrin's face appeared on a monitor, "Commander, Rey and you are to return to the Minerva so that we may pursue the enemy vessel in hopes of stopping its escape."

"We will be there as soon as possible," was the reply. Motioning with his mobile suit's hand for Rey to follow the two made their way back to the open catapults to land.

"Good job Rey," stated Bill as the two ZAKU phantoms made their way to the linear catapults for landing the machines.

"Thank you commander," responded Rey as his machine landed and began to walk back towards the hanger.

Immediately after getting out of his cockpit Bill motioned for one of the mechanics to come over to him. "Make sure to get the thrusters on Luna's machine working as soon as possible, my machine did not sustain any damage from the battle so it should be placed as low priority compared to the Impulse, Rey's ZAKU, and Luna's ZAKU. Tell the head mechanic that this comes from Commander Langston, understood?"

"Yes Commander," replied the mechanic before pushing off the machine for the hanger floor.

This done Bill pushed off for the hanger exit in order to find out more about the situation.

Apparently Rey had the same idea as he was just ahead of Bill before the Minerva shook violently.

"Bridge what is going on out there," demanded Rey over an internal phone at a hanger exit.

Catching up with Rey, Bill said, "Come on we can find out on the bridge."

At this Rey just nodded and the two of them began to make their way to the bridge so as to find out necessary information.

They were at the elevator when Bill finally asked the question that had been bugging him since the battle with the mobile armor, "Rey, how is it that you knew that the pilot of the mobile armor was not an ordinary pilot? As far as I know this was your first battle against someone that used either gunbarrels or a DRAGOON system."

Here Rey hesitated a moment before saying, "I… I had sort of a weird feeling just before Shinn was attacked. The only way to describe it is that I could almost sense what the pilot was going to do and where the beams were going to attack."

Bill paused for a moment here as he thought about what he was told. "It sounds to me like you have enhanced spatial awareness Rey. I have heard rumors that people like Mu La Flaga and Rau Le Creuset had feelings similar to what you experienced. Personally I have better then average spatial awareness, not on the level that you seem to posses but enough that I can get a dim feeling similar to what you experienced."

Rey just nodded as the elevator door opened. The two of them then proceeded to move towards the bridge to find out the exact situation.

Upon entering they found Chairman Durandal in one of the seats next to the map reader table.

"Chairman," said Rey obviously shocked to see the man present.

"The Minerva prides itself on being a fast ship Chairman," stated Captain Gladys. "In the mean time you can rest in the Captain's quarters. Rey show the Chairman there if you please."

Just as Durandal began to rise Lunamaria appeared on a monitor and said, "Captain I was unable to report this before. Just before we left we took on two individuals they claimed to be Representative Athha and her personal attendant Alex Dino. They requested medical treatment and a meeting with a Chairman. I saw to this myself and they are presently resting in the officers' quarters."

"Thank you for your report Lunamaria," replied Captain Gladys before closing the link.

Just after Rey and the Chairman had left Bill spoke up, "May I speak with you outside the bridge Captain before we go see the Representative from Orb with the Chairman?"

"Alright Commander," replied Captain Gladys before turning to Arthur. "Let me know if anything happens."

The two commanding officers of the Minerva stepped off the bridge and walked away for a minute so as to avoid any eavesdroppers.

"So any sign as to whether they are officially with the Earth Alliance or the Atlantic Federation Talia?"

Here Captain Gladys raised an eyebrow before saying, "You believe that the people that stole the machines are with the EA?"

Bill sighed before saying, "I believe that there is a chance that they are but it is just a guess at this point. The best I can say is that I would not be surprised if the people who stole the machines either want the nations of Earth to regain control over the PLANTs through war or are trying to start a war to exterminate all those that live in the PLANTs. However this is my guess about it and I really hope that it is a group of terrorists that are trying to gain power to accomplish whatever goals they have in mind."

Talia also sighed, "Personally I agree with your thoughts on it being the Earth Alliance or the Atlantic Federation in one way or another most likely an off the record idea. However without more concrete evidence we have to assume that they are very well funded terrorists to have the number of machines that they have and to be able to pull off the hijacking of the machines."

"Did there mother ship show up in the data base?" asked the mobile suit commander.

"No… brand new design but it seems similar to the Archangel Class ship of the Atlantic Federation. But since that ship became well known during the last war we cannot prove that it is the Atlantic Federation or any member of the Earth Alliance that built this warship," stated the Captain the frustration of this slightly evident.

"Damn," muttered Bill. "So we are forced to try and find out who they belong to, while trying to turn their ship into scrap as well as recapturing the stolen prototypes. Pardon my French but this is one fucked up situation."

"I happen to agree with you Bill, and then to make matters worse we also have the Chairman and the Chief Representative of Orb on the Minerva so we have to be extra careful about their safety."

The two commanding officers of the Minerva were silent for a moment knowing that there was nothing that would change the situation.

"So," started Bill carefully "are you and the Chairman together again?"

Talia was silent before saying in a soft voice, "No, well nothing more then friends with benefits. Things have changed since we dated the first time, and one of the changes is Gilbert himself and I do not think that it is for the better."

"O… so you noticed that his changes have not been for the better. I only heard about him when you were dating him so I could only guess that he had changed since you dated him," said Bill softly. "Personally I tend to agree with you that something is not quite right about the Chairman but then again I have a natural distrust of all politicians."

Here Talia gave him an amused smile before saying, "Well that is going to happen especially when your dad encouraged you to think for yourself and to not fully trust a politician till you see what they do."

Bill also smiled at this before saying, "Well I think that we should head towards the meeting with the Chairman and the Representative from Orb. Just… be careful cousin I don't want to see you get hurt because you keep seeing the good things from when you two were last together."

"I'll try to do that… but it is still hard, and you are right we should get going," said Talia.

As the two made their way down the corridor for the meeting Talia decided to get in a little ribbing so as to lighten the mood, "So… you must really like Meyrin. I mean for you to flirt so openly with me in the room means that you aren't afraid of what I will do to you in place of your sister-in-law and your mother."

Bill just rolled his eyes here knowing that it would be inevitable. "Well I figured that I might as well be open about it instead of trying to hide the fact and you finding out some other way. I'd never hear the end of it if I tried to hide that I was interested in dating a girl."

Talia just gave him a look that told Bill that he was exactly right about what trying to hide a relationship would cause to him. It was a couple of more minutes before the two reached the quarters where the meeting would take place.

Upon entering they found the Chairman already present along with the Chief Representative of Orb and her personal attendant.

"Ahh good," said the Chairman as he noted the entrance of the two commanding officers of the Minerva before turning his attention back to the Chief Representative.

"Princess allow me to introduce the two commanding officers of the Minerva, Captain Talia Gladys and the Minerva's mobile suit commander William Langston the Black Knight of Jachin."

"It is a pleasure to meet the two of you," replied Cagalli in a neutral tone. She then focused her attention to Bill before asking, "If you do not mind me asking Commander Langston, how did you gain your nickname? I have never heard of you specifically so I am a little curious as to what would gain you that title."

Bill gave a small smile before responding, "I gained that title because of two specific reasons regarding my actions at the second Jachin Due battle. The first and main reason was that I took down seven Nelson class Earth Alliance vessels single handedly saving many a number of ships and mobile suits. These ships being black contributed to my nickname as well as the fact that the GuAIZ that I was piloting was painted Black as a reward for being a test pilot for the GuAIZ. By doing this I was seen as a protector of the ZAFT forces those that knew including Ezalia Joule who was the head of National Defense gave me the title the Black Knight of Jachin. This title is not known outside of ZAFT as I wanted to ensure my privacy outside of the military"

Cagalli nodded seemingly satisfied with Bill's answer before turning her attention back to the Chairman.

"Have you found out anything about who stole those machines," asked Cagalli.

"No Princess," replied Chairman Durandal "we have made no progress on determining who hijacked those machines. Currently the Minerva is chasing after their mother ship in an attempt to recapture our stolen machines. I apologize for the inconvenience."

"That is alright," said Cagalli, while at the same time giving a shake of her head. "Do you happen to have any information as to who hijacked those machines?"

Durandal shook his head slightly before saying, "It is still under investigation as of right now especially as it has been only a few hours."

Bill gave a slight snort but only the chief Representative's personal attendant gave any indication that he heard something.

The next ten to fifteen minutes were filled with vague talk by both politicians trying to feel out the situation.

"Since we cannot let you and your personal attendant off the Minerva, I would like to give you two a tour of the ship," stated the Chairman.

Talia was clearly didn't think this was the best idea and voiced her opinion, "Are you sure that's a good idea Chairman? This _is_ a warship with classified technology…"

Durandal just smiled and said, "This would be a chance to show our goodwill to another nation. Anyways some of the technology will be leaked by those stolen machines."

"Rey can help show you around the ship Chairman," stated Bill calmly. "I am going to head down and talk to the other two pilots of the ship and debrief them about the incident."

Bill and Talia both saluted before leaving the room and heading in separate ways for the destinations.

**Authors Note: This is my first delve into writing in the Gundam Seed fanfiction area so I apologize if the battle does meet expectations. I have not see anyone else write a fic with an OC that starts during Gundam Seed Destiny and thought that in order to be different I would try to write it from there. The main two points of view will be the OC and Athrun with interludes of Kira, Lacus, Talia, and Durandal.**

**Pairings:** Meyrin x OC, Athrun x Lunamaria, Kira x Lacus, Yzak x Shiho, slight Dearka Miriallia, and Talia x ? maybe no one but definitely not Durandal. For those that have seen Star Wars doesn't Durandal remind you of Emperor Palpatine.

**For those that are that are reading my Harry Potter fics do not worry they are not abandonded and both fics have a new chapter underway. It took a while for the Ripple Effect to be worked out for the next chapter and I really wanted to get my plan straightened out before the next chapter of Time for Independence was written.**


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